Can Making Sushi at Home Save Money Despite Being Uncoordinated?

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The discussion centers around the high cost of sushi and the desire to make it at home, sparked by cravings from MIH's bento boxes. The original poster considers purchasing the Sushezi sushi-making device, which has received positive reviews, to help with their lack of coordination in sushi preparation. Participants share their experiences with sushi-making, emphasizing the importance of using high-quality fish and properly prepared rice. There are suggestions for starting with simpler sushi forms like sashimi or nigiri before attempting rolls. The conversation also touches on the differences between American and traditional sushi, noting the influence of Korean cuisine on sushi preparation in many American restaurants. Concerns about the healthiness of modern sushi, which often includes fried or creamy ingredients, are raised, alongside a discussion about the authenticity of sushi made by Korean chefs. Overall, the thread highlights the challenges and joys of making sushi at home while navigating the complexities of culinary authenticity and personal taste preferences.
  • #31
Sushi made by Junior, three years ago:

sushi.jpg
 
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  • #32
Borek said:
Sushi made by Junior, two years ago:

sushi.jpg
Junior is quite talented.
 
  • #33
Evo said:
Junior is quite talented.
And he knows how to keep his chef's knife scary-sharp so he got clean un-deformed slices. Very nice job.
 
  • #34
Dembadon said:
How did your sushi turn out, Evo? Did you end up buying the apparatus in your link?

My wife and I would like to start experimenting with different rolls for an upcoming event for which we're supposed to bring a side dish. We'd like to bring some sushi rolls and were wondering if you've had any success in your endeavors. :smile:


*Looks around*

I guess my invisibility spell has worked



:wink:
 
  • #35
Dembadon said:
*Looks around*

I guess my invisibility spell has worked



:wink:
Hint: take off the cloak.
 
  • #36
Evo said:
Junior is quite talented.

Hardly surprising :-p

turbo-1 said:
And he knows how to keep his chef's knife scary-sharp so he got clean un-deformed slices. Very nice job.

That was my knife :smile:
 
  • #37
Dembadon said:
How did your sushi turn out, Evo? Did you end up buying the apparatus in your link?

My wife and I would like to start experimenting with different rolls for an upcoming event for which we're supposed to bring a side dish. We'd like to bring some sushi rolls and were wondering if you've had any success in your endeavors. :smile:
I just ordered it, I will know in a few days.

I'm thinking of corned beef sushi for St Patricks day. Corned beef and wasabi sound perfect together.
 
  • #38
Evo said:
I just ordered it, I will know in a few days.

I'm thinking of corned beef sushi for St Patricks day. Corned beef and wasabi sound perfect together.

That does sound pretty good; I often enjoy horseradish sauce with a steak so I'd imagine the corned beef and wasabi combo would be fairly similar.
 
  • #39
I find it amusing, that where I live, all the Japanese restaurants (every single one I've seen so far approaching a dozen of them) are Korean owned and Korean run and cook dishes and prepare sushi that is Korean style yet the name of the restaurant is something like Samurai Sushi or a Japanese sounding name etc. I've heard it mentioned that the modern Sushi is American style but since these places are owned and operated by Korean Americans from what I've seen so far it is more Korean style to me. I have mentioned this to good freinds and they insisted that their "Japanese Restaurant" was Japanese only when I went there I saw a Korean flag behind the register and a newspaper with Hangul writing on the counter and when I asked the people working there in Korean "Han guk bun esao?" They smiled and start speaking Korean to me. Those were good clues that they were Korean.

I also find it funny that what was once considered a healthy cuisine (high protein, healthy fish fats--nigiri) now has fried tempura in it, cream cheese and is often coated in panko or even deep fried to suit American tastes. Also the buffet style or even Sushi trains often have slices of Cake and Pie or cookies on them in between the fried sushi or even Chinese Style Dim Sum desserts. At the sushi place I go to sometimes (there are no other options that are not far away) they even have bowls of fried chicken on the Sushi train.

I overheard an overweight couple talking about how healthy sushi was sitting next to me at a Sushi Train and noticed that the "healthy sushi dishes" they ordered were deep fried unagi rolls,Crab Rangoon (which is Chinese American, but also fattening) fried chicken and carrot cake they were also drinking diet sodas. I wanted to give them a thumbs up.
 
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  • #40
Have you seen the brown rice sushi? I did find sushi made with pimento cheese. :biggrin:
 
  • #41
Evo said:
Have you seen the brown rice sushi? I did find sushi made with pimiento cheese. :biggrin:

Hey the unhealthy stuff can taste good! I don't blame people for eating it but don't claim it is healthy.

I have had brown rice sushi and I actually prefer brown rice to white rice in all circumstances. The problem is that (according to the chefs at these restaurants) brown rice takes longer to prepare and only a few people request it. Very few asian restaurants where I live serve brown rice.

Even though I prefer brown rice sushi the cheapest place near my house (where sushi is typically $1.50 even nigiri) doesn't serve brown rice. Cheaper wins out because I am poor right now.


Look. I am all for the creativity and innovation lately in Sushi style but I can't help but notice an American trend towards sweet or fried and adding cheese, mayonaise, panko etc which makes its unhealthy.

I am guessing that the trend toward hot, spicy sushi is Korean influenced.
 
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  • #42
I'll have to find another long-grain rice variety before I experiment with sushi. I'm pretty stuck on the Indian Basmati varieties, but they are not sticky enough to hold together so you can roll them up. Suggestions, anyone?
 
  • #43
ThomasEdison said:
I find it amusing, that where I live, all the Japanese restaurants (every single one I've seen so far approaching a dozen of them) are Korean owned and Korean run and cook dishes and prepare sushi that is Korean style yet the name of the restaurant is something like Samurai Sushi or a Japanese sounding name etc. I've heard it mentioned that the modern Sushi is American style but since these places are owned and operated by Korean Americans from what I've seen so far it is more Korean style to me. I have mentioned this to good freinds and they insisted that their "Japanese Restaurant" was Japanese only when I went there I saw a Korean flag behind the register and a newspaper with Hangul writing on the counter and when I asked the people working there in Korean "Han guk bun esao?" They smiled and start speaking Korean to me. Those were good clues that they were Korean.

I also find it funny that what was once considered a healthy cuisine (high protein, healthy fish fats--nigiri) now has fried tempura in it, cream cheese and is often coated in panko or even deep fried to suit American tastes. Also the buffet style or even Sushi trains often have slices of Cake and Pie or cookies on them in between the fried sushi or even Chinese Style Dim Sum desserts. At the sushi place I go to sometimes (there are no other options that are not far away) they even have bowls of fried chicken on the Sushi train.

I overheard an overweight couple talking about how healthy sushi was sitting next to me at a Sushi Train and noticed that the "healthy sushi dishes" they ordered were deep fried unagi rolls,Crab Rangoon (which is Chinese American, but also fattening) fried chicken and carrot cake they were also drinking diet sodas. I wanted to give them a thumbs up.

Where do you go to get your sushi haha? Maybe the peopl working there ARE Korean, what's that have to do with the style of the food? MANY people travel to Japan to learn under a sushi chef, they then open up their own restaurant... Korean food in my opinion for the most part is quite different from Japanese food.

As well tempura isn't made with panko, that would be called furai the difference is in the batter. Tempura is a PORTUGESE thing NOT an American thing so to suggest that introduction of tempura to Japanese food is American style is rediculous and unfounded, especially considering tempura AFAIK has existed longer than the United States of america.
 
  • #44
turbo-1 said:
I'll have to find another long-grain rice variety before I experiment with sushi. I'm pretty stuck on the Indian Basmati varieties, but they are not sticky enough to hold together so you can roll them up. Suggestions, anyone?

Sushi is generally made with short grain rice and they have a different consistency etc. than the rice you would get from India. You could try: Jasponica rice which is a cross between long grain/short grain sticky rice.
 
  • #45
zomgwtf said:
Where do you go to get your sushi haha? Maybe the peopl working there ARE Korean, what's that have to do with the style of the food? MANY people travel to Japan to learn under a sushi chef, they then open up their own restaurant... Korean food in my opinion for the most part is quite different from Japanese food.

As well tempura isn't made with panko, that would be called furai the difference is in the batter. Tempura is a PORTUGESE thing NOT an American thing so to suggest that introduction of tempura to Japanese food is American style is rediculous and unfounded, especially considering tempura AFAIK has existed longer than the United States of america.

It certainly does have an influence on the food who prepares it. Yes there are chefs who can keep true to the style in which they make their food and do not fusion their food overmuch but I am not seeing that in the restaurants available to me.
I am not claiming that tempura alone is an American style dish, I am claiming that putting tempura in a sushi-roll is American or even Korean American. Not from the origin but from the fusion of two differnt dishes. Right now in Sushi everything goes. I don't mind that, but I do see a trend towards more fattening sushi, tempura falls under that. I don't claim panko is tempura. I do claim that panko is more fattening than not-panko.
I love Korean food perhaps more than all other Asian cuisines put together but yes I can see a Korean influence on the Sushi no matter where the master sushi chef was trained. Fusion will happen unless the Chef is actively trying to be authentic and even then maybe not.

As strange as this might sound :I can actually notice the difference between Italian New York Style Pizza and Greek Pizza (even though both claim to be italian (Italian american style)) Does this mean that all Pizza at all Greek run 'Italian Pizzerias' will be Greek Style Pizza? Probably. Does it matter to me where pizza was first invented? Nope not at all.
 
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  • #46
They certainy may be fusing their sushi styles together but I don't see in any way how it matters. The way you presented the idea before was that the sushi was NOT Japanese, just in name.

As well Tempura didn't just originate from the Portugese prior to America's existence it was brought into Japanese food, including sushi, prior to America's existence... In fact some of the most popular sushi has tempura in it (such as shrimp tempura) so I don't see how restaurants serving that means it's is attempting to 'fit-in' with the 'fat deep fried lovin'' American style...

As well the way you worded that one sentence before made it appear to me that you were linking Tempura together with panko.
 
  • #47
zomgwtf said:
They certainy may be fusing their sushi styles together but I don't see in any way how it matters. The way you presented the idea before was that the sushi was NOT Japanese, just in name.

As well Tempura didn't just originate from the Portugese prior to America's existence it was brought into Japanese food, including sushi, prior to America's existence... In fact some of the most popular sushi has tempura in it (such as shrimp tempura) so I don't see how restaurants serving that means it's is attempting to 'fit-in' with the 'fat deep fried lovin'' American style...

As well the way you worded that one sentence before made it appear to me that you were linking Tempura together with panko.

Okay. I could be wrong about tempura in sushi roll being an American influence. I do know from living with a Korean girlfriend for many years that imitation crab (and salad) in Korean culture is a staple. Seeing imitation crab salad in increasingly more Sushi dishes at Sushi restaurants which are Korean does raise a fusion flag to me. I'm not argueing that Japanese do not eat imitation crab at all ether but imitation crab is insanely popular among Koreans. The two countries are very close to each other and much goes back and forth between them but they do have different food styles and I expect their sushi tastes to be different too. I would be suprised to find out that Japanese like to make sushi with that much hot sauce as well. Korean food, ignoring Indian food which can melt steel, might be the most spicy cuisine on the planet. There is a Korean tendency to put chili in some form or another.. on everything. I am all for it, but I do think it strays from what is traditionally considered Japanese Sushi.

To be clear I have nothing against the current trend towards Asian fusion cuisine per se.
The only problem I have is when fusion becomes so popular that it replaces the original cuisine. Sometimes more simple is better.

Also :American tastes are towards more fattening foods and Asian American restaurants often cater to this.
 

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